“We will not hesitate to prosecute for defamation anyone who repeats this false information,” a member of Macron’s camp said. During Wednesday’s ferocious televised debate Le Pen said: “I hope that we will not find out that you have an offshore account in the Bahamas.” Macron refuted the suggestion as “defamation”.

Judicial sources said prosecutors in Paris had opened a probe following the complaint from Macron, which comes three days before Sunday’s presidential run-off against Le Pen.

According to a source close to the case, the complaint targets “information that circulated Wednesday night on the internet” alleging tax evasion in the Bahamas. Speaking on French radio Thursday, the centrist, pro-EU candidate characterised the insinuations as “fake news and lies” from “sites, some of which were linked to Russian interests”.

Protesters hurled eggs at French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on Thursday during a campaign stop three days ahead of the election.

Around 50 people were on hand as Le Pen arrived at a shipping company in the western town of Dol-de-Bretagne, hurling eggs and shouting “out with fascists”. None of the eggs hit their target as bodyguards hustled Le Pen, 48, into the building.

France’s western Brittany region is not a stronghold of Le Pen’s National Front, handing her only 15 percent of the vote in the April 23 first round of the election. Her centrist rival Emmanuel Macron, 39, scored 29 percent in the region.

The visit comes the day after Le Pen took on Macron in a bruising televised debate, with some two-thirds of viewers saying the younger candidate was the more convincing.